Has the penny dropped yet?
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I’m going through a very interesting part of my journey with blogging at the moment, and as you may have noticed in my posts I am writing about what I am going through. As much for me as anyone else, as it helps cement my ideas and what I am thinking in my mind when I see them in print.
What’s been the problem?
I became a bit stagnant with my blogs and I was having trouble deciding what I should post about next, which in turn has affected how often I posted. So of course I started to look at my blogs as a whole and check my direction, which resulted in being a little bit off. I then set myself a 30 day challenge to try and get myself back on track and focussed.
I’m now reaching the middle of that challenge and I’ve found it’s been incredibly easy to get side tracked and absorbed into some of the blogs I’ve been commenting on, instead of getting on with the job in hand. Like Problogger starting a series looking at top bloggers tipping points for instance. I was getting side tracked mainly because there are some fantastic blogs out there with really absorbing content, so much so that I found myself reading the blogs far too much. And also I was looking for answers…
What did I find
Then I came across the Blogging Experiment, a blog that has recently been bought by Max Davis, he has made some changes and been putting out some interesting content, in other words he’s really turned the blog around. Before the other day I think I had maybe visited the site once when under the previous owner. But now there was something different in the content that stopped me dead in my tracks and made me read on.
He is showing how to turn the blog around and how to make money on the internet, all stuff I have read before (a lot) and it’s never impacted me like it did this day. It wasn’t so much the content although that helped, it was more the timing of when I read the post. It’s really affected me in a positive way.
I was being cautious and just trying different things out going from one post to the next without moving on with my plans, I wanted to build more readers first. That was just an excuse, I didn’t believe in myself. I don’t feel the need to wait anymore, the kick I was waiting for has happened. I wasn’t aiming high enough, but a shift in my mindset and how I look at my blogging has given me the belief I was lacking.
I knew the answer already!
It’s been like the penny has dropped. I have to start seeing my blogs as a business and look at the planning and growth of them first and foremost. Instead of concentrating on the blogging part alone by that I mean SEO, posting, traffic, design, commenting etc… and losing sight of the plan I originally had for the blogs. I need to look at the plan first, what do I want to accomplish and achieve? Then write it down and base the blogging around that. If I get my mindset and plan for the blogs right first, then everything else will follow. It may sound confusing, it sounds like they are all part of the same process, but it is a subtle mindset change. And that’s what’s going to be important and really make the difference to my blogging.
The Blogging Experiment does focus on the money side and how to make it, and I’m not going to hide that I want to make money from my blogging, but that is only part of what I want to achieve.
What are the odds on that…
For that moment in time all the planets must have been aligned or something, because it must be a million to one chance of me finding that post just when I needed it like that. I have read tons on having the right mindset and it’s simply not sunk in like this. But by just reading that one article I was able to adapt it to my situation and how I was feeling, and my brain seems to have switched on like a light bulb.
It’s not that I’ve got lots of new ideas, it’s just that I’ve remembered my old ones and got a new perspective on my way forward. I’m now itching to get to my computer and have a long to do list.
Have you felt like this?
I want to share this, I so often read how people got to where they are and how they did it. But it’s not easily replicated. You do have to do it for yourself and find your own way through the blogging minefield, there’s no definitive right or wrong way to do it. It’s individual and that’s the attraction to blogging for many, the fact you can mold a blog into whatever you want it to be. And that’s why I want to share the hardest part of the journey and not pretend it didn’t happen, to show everyone goes through difficult times but it’s possible to come out the other side. I get my strength from the hard parts, and I hope others will too from reading this.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging experiment, blogging mindset, ProBlogger
Using Polls on your blog
I thought I’d try out a different blogging tool that I haven’t used before. I chose web polls because when I see them on blogs they always catch my eye, and I like to vote on them and see the results if they interest me.
And I have never used anything like them on my blogs before, so they seemed a good place to start. I’ve also put one on my other blog, the photographer blog.
I’m using vizu to create the polls and it is really easy to use, create and add them to my blog.
I can’t wait to see what the answers will be like, I think they are a great way to find out what other people use or think, and a great conversation starter.
I hope they will be a good addition to my blogs and may give me a view of what the readers of this blog use and like.
So here is my first poll on this blog, a basic question I know but a good starting point. Happy voting…
Opinion Polls & Market Research
I’ll also place it in the sidebar so it’s easy to find.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:polls, the photographer blog, vizu
How to track your visitors
Today I’m going to look at how I track the visitors to my blog so I can see how many there are, where they are from and how long they spend on the blog etc… In fact it’s quite bewildering how much information you can see about your blog, and can then use to help improve the experience for your readers.
There are lots of web statistic packages out there and it can be hard to know which one is best. Also there is always speculation about statistic results and the differences that can appear between packages. Here’s an interesting conversation about it.
The beat packages to use
There are two different types of tracking packages available file caching and page tagging, these are the different ways that the statistic packages use to track your blogs information. So I cover all bases and use one of each of these type of packages, Google Analytics and Awstats, and I think these are the best ones for me to use.
1. The first statistics package I use is Google Analytics, and obviously is owned by Google. It uses the page tagging system to track the results and has it’s own blog for helpful news, information and tips. It’s easy to install I just signed up for an account and then placed the code (step by step instructions) I was given onto my site to start tracking.
2. The second statistics package I use is Awstats which uses the file caching system to track results and is attached to my blog hosting service Bluehost, to draw the stats straight from my hosting server. This was also easy to activate, I went into the control panel on my account and went to ‘choose logs’ and then clicked Awstats to activate it.
Are they accurate?
At the end of the day the figures can never be 100% guaranteed because of changing variables. But they do give me a good idea of what is going on, and how I can change or improve my site. If I know what is working and what isn’t I can make the necessary changes to help attract more visitors and readers to my blog.
When I quote figures regarding my statistics I am using these packages to gain that information.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:awstats, Bluehost, google analytics, installing stats packagesMy own 30 day challenge!
Well I’ve been talking about how important it is to be consistent with my blogging, and how hard it can be to put it into practice. So I thought what can I do to help increase my consistency with blogging.
Give myself a goal to work towards, but also motivates me.
My own 30 day challenge
You may have heard of the 30 Day Challenge by Ed Dale, well I’m not doing that it’s just got the same name!
Anyway back to it. During the month of May (I know there’s 31 days in May) I’m going to challenge myself to do some form of marketing everyday, what I mean by this is some form of commenting/forum marketing and guest posting. Also I will stick to my posting schedule for the month. I’m going for broke and will do this for both my blogs for the month. Something I have not managed to do since starting the case study blog back in December.
Then at the end of the month I will be able to compare the statistics for May against previous months, to see what difference my marketing efforts have made, if any!
I’m really interested to see what happens and I’ll share the results on how well I did here in June.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:30 day challenge, the photographer blogDo you recognise the 3 most important steps to building a blog
After writing the post the other day about the ups and downs of blogging, it got me thinking about what I feel are the three most important tips I would give to a beginner blogger about building a blog, if they asked me. What would be the three most important nuggets of information to help them in starting and building a successful blog?
Well three things immediately sprang to mind:
1. Write good content
2. Be consistent
3. Be consistent
They may not be what you would expect. But after blogging for just over a year now, I have come to the conclusion these three points are the most important ingredients, that you have to get right first. To successfully build a blog into something that will last and grow. Let me explain a little more:
1. Write Good Content
If you don’t write good content then you won’t be able to capture your visitors and turn them into readers. That want to come back again and again to see what else you have written. And most importantly tell others about your great content.
2. Be Consistent
You need to then consistently write good content so when the visitors do come back, there is more fresh content to entice them back again. There’s no point in drawing visitors in with a good article for the stream of content to then to dry up or become sporadic.
3. Be Consistent
I know, it’s not a typing error! I just felt this point was so important it needed saying twice. However you want to promote your blog through marketing and different types of traffic generation you need to be consistent at it. The more consistent you are at say commenting, forum marketing or guest posting the bigger presence or profile you will make. And the more chances you have of people finding your blog.
If you read any top blog you will soon realise that these ingredients are used by them as the basis for how they blog, and gives them a solid platform to their blogs, and they grow from there.
Sounds fairly simple and obvious…
The problem is that this is easier said than done. It’s one thing to know that this is the way to go, but another thing entirely to try and put it into action.
It all adds up to an enormous commitment in practice, and on top there’s all the admin and maintenance involved with a blog as well. But this isn’t bad news though, don’t feel overwhelmed, blogging is not a race.
It’s a huge advantage to know these important points from the start, and it gives you something to aim and plan for. I’ve been blogging for a year and it’s taken the best part of it to realise how important these points are, and get to grips with how to blog and the best methods to use for promotion.
If you don’t have a good foundation to your blogging using these three core points, then nothing else will work as well, or fall into place. It’s using these points well, as a foundation that will make the difference and take your blog to the next level.
Am I there yet, Do I use them?
No, I’m still working on it. These three points are so easy to miss or gloss over because they are so obvious. And they are the easiest ones to loose sight off, and let drop from your blogs daily routines. But as so often is true, they are the ones that you need to concentrate on the most.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Who ever said blogging was easy?
It wasn’t me!
Do you ever stare at an empty post page wondering what to write?
Do you sometimes struggle with your blogging? I know I sometimes do and this is one of those times. I’ve got so much planned that I want to do for this blog and want to say, that I don’t know where to start! Or how to say it…a kind of writers block or lack of focus maybe.
It’s a little unnerving because normally I am quite good at planning what I want to do. You never know writing about it may help!
And this is all amplified by the fact I have had a hard time recently keeping up the pace I would like to with the blog, and that’s not only nagging at the back of my mind it’s also frustrating me.
What’s the solution?
But the thing to do is not panic or give up, everybody has ups and downs with blogging, the difference is how I deal with them.
I think the first thing to do is a bit of a brain dump and get all my ideas onto paper then I can start sorting them out. And the second is to stop ripping myself up about posting, I would rather write a good post a couple of times a week than churn out a load of bad posts everyday. If I don’t get the good post written then there’s no post that day, and that goes for both my blogs until I get back on track.
Anyway I thought I would write about it, and where I am at because at the end of the day this is about my journey with blogging so I may as well show all sides of it. I want it to be a truthful account to help others, and I’m not going to be helping anybody if I only focus on the good sides of blogging.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging journeyLooking at a Well Branded Blog
This post is more of my thought process about branding for blogs and what a powerful tool it can be, to help a blog be read by as many people as possible.
After writing the post the other day about branding your blog to raise it’s profile I started to wonder if I could find an example of what I was talking about. I could.
I’m talking about an easily recognizable blog due to it’s name/domain, logo etc… I decided I could pick almost any of the top blogs in their niches and you would find that they all had strong branding and identity. And obviously they were all popular blogs.
You could say what came first the branding or the popularity?
You have to remember a blog has to establish a readership by building it up with good content that people will find interesting, and want to come back for more. So it’s the popularity that has to come first, the branding grows and changes as the blog grows, adding to it.
I also think the earlier you start to set some branding up for your blog, the more it can help draw people in as the blogs readership and popularity grows.
So where’s my example?
The one blog for me that comes to mind when I think about branding is Problogger by Darren Rowse. You only have to see it’s logo, a ‘P‘ and you know what it refers to. He even has Problogger t-shirts!
I have followed this blog for a couple of years now and I’ve found it an extremely interesting place to find bogging help and inforamtion, and that’s the impression that hits me first. So it’s the blogs name that was the greatest branding and has made it instantly recognised. Which brings home the importance of a good domain name. It’s only fairly recently that the blog and logo etc has been redesigned, and has worked with the name to make it even easier to notice.
It would be interesting to see how many people would know about it outside the blogging about blogging niche. You would find that similar niches like make money on the internet and perhaps internet marketing would have heard of Problogger, but obviously branding is niche specific.
But that is the holy grail for most probloggers, to be one of the top blogs and instantly known within their niche!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Darren Rowse, ProBloggerBranding for your blog
Do you have to use branding on your blog
No, but it can be useful.
At the moment I am working on building the case study blog, I would like it to build a presence in the digital photography niche, although I do know it’s a competitive one. And to get my blog’s face known out there, even if I concentrate on a sub niche within digital photography.
I also want visitors to feel it is a blog to follow, that it will be around for a good while and it has an attractive design that is easy to read and follow. A professional feel in a relaxed atmosphere, if you know what I mean!
To help me do this I have been working on some branding for The Photographer Blog (TPB) to help people remember it easier (hopefully) and to help get it’s name out there. I am still in the process of working on it but so far I have added a logo which I created in Adobe Photoshop Elements
You may also notice I have added some advertising, like many other bloggers do, it would be nice to be able to make enough money to cover the costs of the site and be able to make more improvements to it, like a professional blog design!
These changes may only seem slight and I will do some more, but I feel they will all add up to building the presence and the impression that TPB (The Photographer Blog) will leave on people.
More to come on this…
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:adobe photoshop 3, case study, the photographer blogHave you heard about the new blogging book?
Yes a proper book with pages!
Yesterday I heard about a new book about blogging, the Problogger book - secrets of blogging your way to a six figure income, now that is quite a claim.
But you couldn’t have two better authors showing you the way, the book has been written by Darren Rowse of Problogger and Chris Garrett of Chrisg.com so they definitely have the right credentials.
It’s not released yet but Darren and Chris have put together a web page with an email list where once you have subscribed you can download a sample chapter of the book and also receive weekly blogging tips for a year. And that sounds like a good deal, so I have signed up to have a look.
If you would like to pre-order the Problogger book then you can click on the amazon box (which gives the best deal).
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:chris garrett, Darren Rowse, problogger bookGetting the most out of blog carnivals
Have you heard of blog carnivals?
I know I kept reading about them and how they could help your blog to gain traffic but I never knew anything more about them. So I did some digging around and found some information on them. And I have now be using them for some time.
Basically they are a collection of blog posts all to do with the same topic and posted to a blog on a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly basis. Some carnivals have a different host each week so other blogs can take a turn.
Most carnivals have set rules for who can submit an article, mainly your article has to do with the topic of the carnival.
Do you use blog carnivals?
So that’s my next question, do you use blog carnivals? I first used a carnival through a recommendation, it was the All Women blogging carnival and as the name suggests it’s for any women who blogs no matter what it’s about. And I think referrals are the best way to find a good carnival.
The other place to find a blog carnival would have to be the Blog Carnival website which is the directory for blog carnivals. And that’s where I have found a lot of the carnivals I have used. Although it hasn’t had a spring clean for a while and there are a lot of old carnivals left on there that haven’t ran for a long time, but new ones are added all the time.
Are they useful?
I think they are, if you just want to get loads of traffic and aren’t interested in anything else then they are not for you. But if you are interested in finding new networking opportunities, making new blogging friends or finding new blogs in your niche then they are great. I was asked for my first interview because of submitting to a blog carnival. And don’t forget that they have loads of great articles to read as well.
They also have another useful purpose, every time you get an article accepted and published on a carnival then you are putting yourself in front of a new audience, with the added benefit of a link back to your blog which will help with the rankings and they will build up over time. So they might not deliver tons of traffic but they still have their advantages.
Photography carnivals?
I’ve not seen any current photography carnivals at the moment, I don’t know if anybody knows of any? But I still wanted to use this method of marketing for my case study blog.
So I am participating in slightly different carnivals but ones I still have something in common with. Whenever I can I am submitting to the All Women blogging carnival and also a new one I have found called the Mom’s blogging carnival.
I haven’t been submitting the case study blog articles for long but there are lots of quality posts on both of these carnivals, and I hope to get to know the bloggers behind them a little better over time.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:All Women Blogging Carnival, blog carnival, moms blog carnival
